Michael Jordan's visit to China

[TSkillet]

Wow. I've never seen the sports pages so full of one man. Not even Yao Ming generates this much press

[confucius]

Beijing couldn't handle Michael Jordan's public appearance but they think they can organize the 2008 Olympics. At least in Taiwan he was able to engage his adoring fans in two minutes of mass adulation.

I couldn't find any press on his visit to a factory in Dongguan. I would like to know how long he caused a disruption to the assembly line and other related anecdotes.

[TSkillet]

well, I think Nike shoulders some of the blame. (of course, this same thing happened 3 years ago with Kobe Bryant - same. exact. thing.) So maybe it's not the shoe company's fault

[wushijiao]

Mike's bigger than the Olympics. No one person better represents excellence, winning and good old fashioned Americana (in a strange way), via the marketing folks at the NBA/ Nike/ Gatorade/ Hannes/ McDonalds...etc. All those campanies probably entered China for the first time in the era of Jordan, which makes the man a symbol for something bigger than himself.

There are no other stars, film, music, or sports, that can compete with Qiao dan in China.....except Beckham, I suppose.

[TSkillet]

yeah, well, they sure screwed up his visit.

[wushijiao]

We'll see how well they crowd control when the Rockets come to town.

[confucius]

I was in Beijing two years ago when Vince Carter made a public appearance. The crowds were not unruly and generally well-behaved.

The difference may be that it was held at a venue where crowds are much easier to control (CBA headquarters).

TSkillet is right; stupid Nike should have learned from the experience of Adidas when Kobe came to town in 2001.

I don't think the NBA games in Beijing and Shanghai will attract unruly crowds. Yao Ming is the most famous Chinese player in the world but he still doesn't start riots when he makes appearances in China. Neither Houston or Sacramento has a single player that can attract thousands of fans like Jordan or Kobe. No Chinese fans are going to try and climb over a fence or stand on top of a car to catch a better glimpse of Chris Webber or Steve Francis.

[TSkillet]

I would agree with you confucius, except I was there at the Jerome Williams/Antawn Jamison visit in 2001 (where I got punched in the stomach) and I saw how they handled the doors at the 2001 Asian Basketball Championships (big rugby scrum).

Does not bode well for the upcoming NBA China Games.

[confucius]

I don't know which team I feel more sorry for; the Sacramento Kings going all the way to China to play the Houston Rockets or the Utah Jazz playing an exhibition in Russia?

If the Kings win does that mean Doug Christie (or his wife?) gets punched in the stomach? Probably not as bad as the brawl that will spill onto the court if Greg Ostertag flagrantly fouls some guy from the local Moscow Generals team that the Jazz are playing.

I think maybe the NBA looked at the success of the Sonics-Clippers games in Japan last season and thought they could pull off the same thing in China. I too am looking forward to seeing how the host city of the 2008 Olympics manages a real NBA game. Right now I'm predicting security tighter than Britney Spears' concert outfits. Probably one fourth of the fans in attendance will be PLA soldiers in uniform, like watching the Bayi Rockets instead of Houston.

[TSkillet]

speaking of Britney Spears - isn't she supposedly going to have concerts in Shanghai/Beijing?

I just wonder how much of the game is going to be run by the NBA and how much by the CBA - Chinese Bureaucracy vs. the NBA - two of the largest control-freak organizations ever.